![All-You-Can-Eat Cheese Fondue?! Incredible Value Lunches at Tokyo Ikebukuro's 'The Life Table'](https://rimage.gnst.jp/livejapan.com/public/article/detail/a/00/03/a0003604/img/basic/a0003604_main.jpg?20200914124739&q=80)
Ikebukuro is one of Tokyo's urban subcenters with a thriving transport hub where trains, JR lines, subway tracks, and other major public transport options intersect with each other, making it easily accessible from virtually anywhere in the city. Little wonder, then, that the station vicinity is therefore chock-full of great shopping places and eating establishments catering to every taste and preference imaginable.
Today, we'll be introducing you to The Life Table, an exciting eatery that everyone's talking about these days because of its mouth-watering cheese fondue menu, which comes with 10 types of different cheese sauces for all you cheese enthusiasts out there to enjoy to your heart's content. Is your curiosity piqued yet? Let's see what the hype is all about!
The Life Table: All-you-can-eat cheese fondue that's gaining rapid popularity especially among women in their 20s to 30s !
![The Life Table: All-you-can-eat cheese fondue that's gaining rapid popularity especially among women in their 20s to 30s !](https://rimage.gnst.jp/livejapan.com/public/article/detail/a/00/03/a0003604/img/en/a0003604_parts_5dd24ce690966.jpg?20200914124739&q=80)
The Life Table is a designer's bar where you can enjoy a unique type of fresh cheese fondue alongside their special homemade roast beef that uses meat from stringently selected cow breeds. The shop is located on the eighth floor of a building that's a mere 1-minute walk from the East Exit of Ikebukuro Station.
![](https://rimage.gnst.jp/livejapan.com/public/article/detail/a/00/03/a0003604/img/en/a0003604_parts_5dd24cf54bdc1.jpg?20200914124739&q=80)
The spacious shop interior comes with common spaces and also private rooms, which makes it an excellent choice for throwing a private party, if you're in the market for one. The polished and fancy-looking decor was done under the supervision of a famous designer to appeal to girls' groups or couples on dates.
Presenting: The deliciously popular all-you-can-eat cheese fondue lunch set!
![Presenting: The deliciously popular all-you-can-eat cheese fondue lunch set!](https://rimage.gnst.jp/livejapan.com/public/article/detail/a/00/03/a0003604/img/en/a0003604_parts_5dd24d0fbb019.jpg?20200914124739&q=80)
As we've been saying all along, the must-try item for your visit here is definitely the all-you-can-eat cheese fondue lunch! There's no time limit for this and you can help yourself to 10 different types of cheeses without holding back at all.
To make the deal sweeter, the item even comes with a salad and free flow of soup and drinks! The best part is definitely the very reasonable price of 1,280 yen (tax excluded) per person. You can really tell why this meal is going viral on every social network you can think of!
When you've made your order, you'll be served with a cheese fondue set and mini salad first of all. The fondue's ingredients and sauces can be topped up at any time by notifying shop staff, and the complementary free flow of soup and drinks are available at self-service counters.
![](https://rimage.gnst.jp/livejapan.com/public/article/detail/a/00/03/a0003604/img/en/a0003604_parts_5dd24d24da784.jpg?20200914124739&q=80)
Here's a picture of the cheese fondue set that will be served once you're seated. Customers usually come in groups of two to four here, so the starter plate is deliberately hefty. Once you've finished them all up, however, you can always call for extras!
As you would expect from a fondue platter, the variety of ingredients offered here is incredible. For meat, there's fried chicken cut down into bite-sizes and sausages. In the area of vegetables, look forward to potatoes, yam, broccoli, red paprika, yellow paprika, young corn, snow peas, carrots, and mini tomatoes. Seasonal fare is also thrown in depending on the day of your visit, like zucchini during summer and eggplant during early fall.
Not to forget - tasty baguette bread! Altogether, you can expect to see more than 10 types of ingredients on the platter, ready to make the dip into the luxurious fondue, then right down into waiting tummies!
![](https://rimage.gnst.jp/livejapan.com/public/article/detail/a/00/03/a0003604/img/en/a0003604_parts_5dd24d35896f2.jpg?20200914124739&q=80)
Speaking of the fondue, there's a frankly bewildering range of different cheese sauces being served - part of the reason why this menu item is so popular. The first three flavors that will come with the starter platter are plain cheese, fresh tomato, and honey butter. These are apparently the most popular sauces among patrons of the shop!
![](https://rimage.gnst.jp/livejapan.com/public/article/detail/a/00/03/a0003604/img/en/a0003604_parts_5dd24d46c20fa.jpg?20200914124739&q=80)
Craving for even more variety? Then make an order with the staff for additional sauces! In the photograph, from top left to bottom right, the shop offers Italian basil, soy milk, olive oil, red cheddar, spicy (cayenne pepper and capsicum), avocado, and mentaiko (cod roe) sauce. In total, there are 10 flavors you can choose from.
![](https://rimage.gnst.jp/livejapan.com/public/article/detail/a/00/03/a0003604/img/en/a0003604_parts_5dd24d5f6be28.jpg?20200914124739&q=80)
A portable gas stove is used to heat up the entire platter, and the pleasant sizzling sound of food getting cooked to perfection will surely sound like music to a hungry tummy. Stir the food once in a while so that nothing gets burnt, and once the cheese fondue sauce is warmed up to a temperature you're comfortable with, it's time to dip right in!
![](https://rimage.gnst.jp/livejapan.com/public/article/detail/a/00/03/a0003604/img/en/a0003604_parts_5dd24d6fcaf26.jpg?20200914124739&q=80)
Being able to relish as much of the luxuriously thick cheese dipping sauce as you like is something only possible in an all-you-can-eat setting, that's for sure!
To make your meal even more fun and fulfilling, consider adding on a french fries & shrimp chips all-you-can-eat for 300 yen per person, homemade roast beef for 380 yen per person, or dessert fondue (choice or custard fondue or berry berry custard fondue) for 580 yen per person (all prices exclude tax).
These add-ons can be ordered individually, making this a good way to add even more variety to your fondue ingredients list! Still, remember to practice buffet etiquette when ordering things from the all-you-can-eat menu by only ordering what you know you can eat, or you may risk incurring a leftovers fee of 300 yen for leftovers!
Keep tabs on your lunch group and ensure that everyone can handle what's being ordered to maximize your enjoyment of the food and prevent wastage, which has the added bonus of a good aftertaste as well, even after you leave the restaurant!
Don't miss the shop's totally instagrammable dinner menu too!
![Don't miss the shop's totally instagrammable dinner menu too!](https://rimage.gnst.jp/livejapan.com/public/article/detail/a/00/03/a0003604/img/en/a0003604_parts_5dd24db027463.jpg?20200914124739&q=80)
Although The Life Table is best known for its all-you-can-eat cheese fondue meal, it actually does offer other types of food that have been rapidly gaining popularity as well. If you're visiting the shop during dinner time, we really do recommend trying out some of these other tasty treats as well, in addition to the signature all-you-can-eat cheese fondue, of course!
![](https://rimage.gnst.jp/livejapan.com/public/article/detail/a/00/03/a0003604/img/en/a0003604_parts_5dd24dc750c1d.jpg?20200914124739&q=80)
Here's the most popular other-dish of the shop: "Premium Roast Beef Fondue (1,480 yen, tax excluded)"! As previously mentioned, the homemade beef is made with meat from stringently selected cow breeds.
Slowly roasted over a low fire, the meat has a soft and mellow texture that melts tastily in your mouth like the fresh cheese fondue sauce it comes with. This sauce has also been specially designed to go well with the beef, so they're quite literally a match made in dairy heaven!
This opulent fondue combination of roast beef and cheeses has been featured on plenty of news media and is partly responsible for making The Life Table as famous as it is now.
![](https://rimage.gnst.jp/livejapan.com/public/article/detail/a/00/03/a0003604/img/en/a0003604_parts_5dd24dd7bacd3.jpg?20200914124739&q=80)
How about a "Chicago-Style Pizza With Overflowing Cheese (2,480 yen, tax excluded)"? Only a limited number of this pizza is available each day, making it a highly-sought-after item among customers.
This style of deep dish pizza allows for the inclusion of even more ingredients and toppings due to its depth, and pictures of thick cheese oozing out of the crust once sliced with a knife will get you quite a number of likes on your social media of choice for sure! Sharing this great-tasting morsel with your friends will make it extra palatable.
![](https://rimage.gnst.jp/livejapan.com/public/article/detail/a/00/03/a0003604/img/en/a0003604_parts_5dd24de8511b9.jpg?20200914124739&q=80)
Craving something a bit more meaty? Try the "Homemade Roast Beef Meat Chicago-Style Pizza (2,980 yen, tax excluded), where the pizza's crust is decadently decorated with thick slices of the shop's signature roast beef.
The sheer novelty of this item has been known to grab plenty of eyeballs and clicks on social media as well. Again, a slice of the knife opens the floodgates of cheesy goodness, which you can then scoop up with the slices of roast beef to please your taste buds and satisfy your growling stomach.
Besides the items we've mentioned, the shop menu also features plenty of other unique and unconventional foodstuff, like "Colorful Dak-Galbi With 4 Types of Cheese (1,680 yen, tax excluded), "Crispy Cheese Crisps (680 yen, tax excluded)", and plenty more!
If you're a cheese enthusiast, your heart was probably beating rapidly in excitement just reading this article alone, but wait till you actually get there! This is a shop you absolutely cannot afford miss if you're visiting Ikebukuro in the near future!
Written by Naho Jishikyu. English translation by: Huimin Pan
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the life tablethe life table
- Address FLC Bldg. 8F, 1-22-2 Minami Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo-to
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Nearest Station
「池袋」駅東口から徒歩1分
- Phone Number 03-6912-5600
Hours: Lunch 12 noon – 3:00 p.m.; Dinner 4:30 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.
Closed: Open Daily
*Prices and options mentioned are subject to change.
*Unless stated otherwise, all prices include tax.
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